Reports of a plane crash stirred the response of Franklin County emergency crews Saturday, but no such wreck was located, officials said.
 
The Franklin County Sheriff's Office received several 911 calls about 11:30 a.m. reporting a plane that had crashed into Smith Mountain Lake near Water's Edge Country Club in Penhook, according to District Supervisor Karl Martin with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
 
"The folks called back and said since it was low on the water, they assumed it had crashed," Martin said.
 
Police and rescue officials did not find a plane in the water, despite assistance from a Virginia State Police helicopter. But a plane matching the description offered by citizens was spotted "flying erratically", he said.
 
The tan, single-engine plane "was way too low to be operating safely," Martin said. "When we first saw it, it appeared it was going down."

Martin said the plane was not equipped with pontoons for landing in water.
 
The plane made at least two passes in the same area at altitudes likely below 1,000 feet, according to Franklin County Public Safety Director Daryl Hatcher.
 
Officers on patrol boats were able to capture a photograph of the plane as it headed west out of the area, Hatcher said.
 
"They'll check to see what departures and landings were scheduled at that time matching that plane," he said.
 
Though there were many boaters on the lake at the time, officials did not evacuate the area.
 
"There was not an immediate danger," Martin said. "But it was very reckless."
 
The investigation will be handed over to the state police, who may work with the Federal Aviation Administration and local airports to determine who was flying the plane.